Why We DITCHED The Aquaponics System
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- čas přidán 12. 07. 2022
- There are 2 main reasons why we don't run our aquaponics system any longer.
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If your maintenance was greater than a soil crop. Your system was never balanced. A balanced system needs no real maintenance aside from feeding fish and adjusting per fish growth. Removing larger fish and adding smaller ones. I’ve made many over the years and the first 6-9 months is all maintenance to properly balanced. Then you put your auto feed for the finish and monitor nute levels.
This happens in nature everyday with no upkeep. 👍🏼🇺🇸
I had a similar experience where at first it was high maintenance because I didn’t know what I was doing, but once the system kinks were worked out it was low maintenance. Also I did encapsulated ductwork not open to the elements like you have which produce no algae. I did have lower temperatures though. I was sub train with skylights in a cement floored room. So I was using the earth to cool or warm, so geothermal.
Your completely correct.
I agree I had a medium-scale Greenhouse (1000 plants) after a couple of months literally had no maintenance outside of feeding fish and cycling fish.
100% agree with this. A balanced system is so easy. I never had a problem.
I've never had the problems you are describing.
For such a hot climate why did you create an open system hydroponics where you’re going to lose more water? You had so much surface area that your water had you’re going to increase evaporation if you kept your surface area down you would have less evaporation.
I was wondering the same
@@Sapoairsoft I agree, bad design system, to mush water above the as to as dark zone, i could redo the system with much lower water loss,
Your doing it wrong if it is being high maintenance. I've got a system and I just feed the fish and add a little water. You must've had overflow issues or a leak. It has already been proven aquaponics systems use less water then soil base growing. There are many ways to resolve your issues.
Agreed
Best system known to man
while those things to occur, look at the video, there's plenty of open water surface area, churning water and heat. You can absolutely lose a lot of water to evaporation under those conditions. Better design would go a long way.
While I don’t know much on the subject, seems like a system where a lot of things could go wrong or need maintenance. And my guess is that while the research showed that some set-ups in some environments use less water than soil grown plants, that the studies didn’t test for all set-ups and climates.
@@Itried20takennames, I've researched aquaponics techniques from all over the world. Even in hottest climates, they do no use or fill the system as often as they would need to water soil base plants.
I have a cheap backwoods system made from old pool liner and pool pump, IBC 275 gallon plastic cube and 3, 55 gallon barrels. I don't have any real issues, I add water about once a month, the whole system runs on timers. I just have to feed the fish and crawfish growing in the system daily.
Once you go to a commercial farm level and spend the money for right monitors and systems, your biggest thing is harvesting, rotating your plants and reseeding area's that's been harvested.
My system I have a small solar power set up to help run the system, same can be done for commercial purposes also.
Running water in open channels is a sure way to evaporate it. Having closed pipes would definitely fix the problem.
Thanks for sharing the experience
I'd like to know more about your system. I operate a 1200 suare foot system and 2,500 square foot system. The only maintenance I have in 7 years is feeding fish and adding water once a week. All my time is carrying for plants. There shouldn't be major maintenance to the system unless is badly designed. One of my systems is a flood and drain with bell siphon and the othere is fully automated flood and drain. I also have a 800 square foot aeroculture system but it's a high pressure system with 85psi emitters that requires a booster pump. My filters are self back washing. I waste only 10 gallons of water a week when flushing the filter and that sludge is Mineralized for watering a soil garden. I use 100 pounds of fish food a week. My monthly cost on running the systems is about 400 a month.
could you provide a diagram of your set-up?
Do you add any other nutrient supplements to your system? Such as iron chelate.
Is that a large system ? And how much fish do you produce because I can't afford $400 a month. I have a wife and a 7 year old and I only need to feed us plus some extra for the freezer. How can I scale down?
I'm surprised you didn't need to supplement phosphate, or potassium during fruiting stage.
Very helpful and honest briefing about a system that is expensive to build and expensive to use. Over time it is a hobby most cannot afford to have and try to eat from while thinking there is a chance for coming out ahead on the food bill. Of course that won't happen since the method depends on electric, water supply, and the ability to fix and maintain all the parts. The Egyptians were taking advantage of a natural flooding event that took place at least once each year to grow food, or they had starvation problems. Their only cost was in labor and very long hours during planting and harvesting periods, which is common to farming.
That’s something we have been struggling with on our homestead, finding the balance between working on certain things around the homestead, it always seems like when we work on one thing the other suffers so definitely finding things we don’t have to maintain is nice.
I see you have the water flow exposed to the air. Have you tried doing a bell siphon fill and flush method in the grow beds? I would think that might keep the water less exposed. Also maybe use pvc pipes and not open air flow methods?
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Also if he puts his fish subterranean meaning underground or blow grade that would help my tanks were underneath the plant beds on casters so I could move one over the other. Also takes up less space.
Yea i guess you guys mentioned the 2 Main Problems for waterloss in his case
The fishproblem is unlucky to his location.
I would like to know how much the fish food costs
I m off grid, live in Montana, and produce tilapia. Not hard, solved the problem with a solar water heater, a greenhouse, and a biogas digester. Just have to do some research and solve some problems. Initial build is hard but after that, extremely low maintenance and cheap. Cost of fish food and that’s it.
The most interesting Aquaponic system I saw was in Taiwan 15 yr ago. The man used indoor greenhouse and outdoor pools around 12" to 24" deep of 30' or more usually long oval shape which he just floated plants on 2" Styrofoam sheets with holes to put plants in, and fish and shrimp in the water. Covered 90% of the water to help keep evaporation down. Very easy to plant and harvest by just pushing the sheets around. No need for any recirculating system. Ad water and fish food. Some plants indoors he had sitting on stands in the water which he even grew banana's.
It would still need to circulate, fish need oxygenated water some how and the fish have to be separate from plants or they will eat the roots.
Texas Farm Bureau just did a piece on a large commercial aquaponics operation in Belton, Texas the other day. People are definitely still bettering the technology and systems.
Can you provide a link? I tried searching for it but I'm coming up empty handed
@@djmermaid1
czcams.com/video/9LZclRbl-ps/video.html
I'm with you on the maintenance issues. As I build my homestead in Missouri, that's my first question for any system I'm needing. I am NOT a nerd and right now solar options are melting my brain to keep it as small as possible to fulfill basic needs. Cost is another factor. Take care! Texas Deb ❤️
@@mrspleasants8529 thank you for your help. I really don't think I will need a system that large, and I don't have tons of money to get that. But the hybrid lithium inverter so I can do solar or generator is key. Thanks again, and many blessings! Deb
his design has way too much water surface area exposed, it's poorly designed which is why he had so much trouble.
just looking at how your system was constructed with open air plumbing and relatively shallow grow beds your issues were mostly you own design choices. A well designed system will be low maintenance and low water use.
Another poorly designed system for the wrong environmental conditions... yup, must be the fault of aquaponics.... I've built and run several different systems over the past 20 years. After ther first couple of months, there is very little maintenance needed.
CONGRATULATIONS ON 200 K SUBS!!!
we are doing AP here on the homestead in Arkansas with not as much evaporation as you stated but it seemed like you had dripping water going through the air in over a dozen places, that is where the evap is coming from. I am experimenting on different ways of approaching the nutrient part of the water and using geothermal earth tubes to keep from freezing. we have 2-275 gal ibc buried and 3-275 gal above for fish.
Really appreciate the update and realistic explanation. Aquaponics was what first introduced me to your channel, a very long time ago… 😂 I might be able in the PNW to pull it off with moderate temperatures and lots of rain, but the maintenance would definitely end up being a challenge. Thanks for the informative video!
@@Underground-Electronic-Music I also liked watching RobBob’s aquaponics… I suppose every situation will be somewhat unique based on climate and design. We don’t get long hard freezes where I am at, or extended heatwaves of above 30C ~90F. Seeing all the negative comments here since mine is a little disappointing. Maybe people are missing the point that for this individual with this particular system, the input required wasn’t equivalent to the harvest/produce gains? It’s not an attack on aquaponics or a statement that it cannot be successful ever, just that this particular system didn’t work for this individual in their climate. Sheesh
I definitely agree about having a good source for water....This system is best in a sealed building for the most part where the evaporation condenses and falls back to the water system via a concrete floor or something like that...also for those with smaller sources of water...many states such as Idaho where I live...You can buy a permit from the state water board to pull water from any river, creek or lake..Here it is about $40 or so a year...then a trailer with 250-500 gallon tank can be pumped directly from a local river or whatever, maybe ran through a filter system into your water storage or hydroponics system. This does as you say, take time and some gas for a pump but it works.
Can you elaborate a little on the actual size of your system and how much solar power it required? And roughly how much food it would produce?
I appreciate your honest explanation.
You appear to have several open faced drain/ gutters, which would greatly increase evaporation. Also, Catfish can survive in temperatures of 40° to nearly 100°
During winter - if you use cattle fence tunnel - grrenhouse set up with double layer of plastic, where you apply air between the layer. this will keep temprature high in your tunnel greenhouse, through out the winter months.
Good evening sir. i am going to do a reaction video to this an i really would like for you to take a look at my design and thinking on the aquaponics system. i think you simply didn't chose the best design for your farm.
I am doing aquaponic and designer of all my commercial system. I am utilizing vertical tower and planar growing subsystem. The best i can say. Aquaponic is highly complex system that require complete, proper and proven bio processing system. Once you get the system correct not in DIY level setup, I can say its one of the most efficient in both inputs and maintenance.
Love the channel!
Thanks so much for the heads up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But soil gardening is also maintenance heavy. I would say any type of homestead food growing to remain as off-grid as possible to make it successful is very heavy on commitment and maintenance. Work, work, work to produce liberty from the global corporate systems that control us.
And a huge water sink. We've just started a hydroponic system and it uses a fraction of the water compared to our garden.
I lived in South Florida, Broward county. I had a koi and talapia pond. It was 2500+ gallons and 5 feet deep and lined with black Firestone pond liner. Every year when the cool weather came in I'd lose a batch of Tilapia to the cold water.
The best fish we had were plain old koi. They could handle both the 80-90 degree weather and the cool weather during the winter season.
The Tilapia we're good at keeping the algae under control.
I had this pond set up with an aquaponics grow bed too.
I think the best way to do aquaponics is to have it set up as naturally as possible with gravity feed. Also there should be a source of water that can be used to replenish any evaporation, with as little effort as possible.
It can work but it will require a lot of investment at the start.
Please do not discourage folks from aquaponics. Yours was large scale, but there are vertical tower gardens available for people to put in their houses with a pump that sounds like a fountain, and a housebound person in a wheelchair can grow food with these.
I understand the system you're referring to is often promoted as aquaponic, but it's actually hydroponic. Aquaponics involve fish (I've even seen it with crabs), and it's much trickier to implement in an urban setting. However, you're spot on about their usefulness (I have one on my terrace too). Personally, I believe these systems are better suited for home growing, though, rather than on an industrial scale. Admittedly, I'm no expert. Just sharing my opinion, which is exactly what it is-an opinion. 🤷🏽♂️
Thx for sharing!
Was that 3 month drought in 2011? Texas suffered that year, and is again now. So thankful I'm on a land sabbath year, and didn't waste all my seeds and water this year.
Decoupled Aquaponics is a better process. In short: Raise fish.... take the sludge.... and use it for fertilizer.
Autopot aquaponics, constant inflow of fresh water, hydroponic nutrients which are fed in to account for large or small fish sizes, and one way flow from tap to fish to plants.
@@mkuc6951 I like the fresh water idea. Perhaps fresh water could be pumped in from a steam if available?
Did you convert your old system into a greenhouse? We had a nice sized greenhouse that did well for us until a store bought start introduced binding weed into our garden area. Now we fight that every year. Great video. I know every time I looked into doing aquaponics, just building the system seemed exhausting to me, and I assumed I would not keep up with the maintenance required for it, so we never did it. We have a grow tower in our home, which is the only aquaponic system we have and it is pretty simple.
To gain water storage capacity during the rainy season used above ground pools. During September and October people are almost and are giving them away.
Have you tried the wicking beds? We LOVE them!!!
Hey i get it. A ftiend had a similar issue. But for me in Orlando FL its great. We have 2 2 14ft above ground pools. One with Talapia and the other with Koi.
I am wondering what did you do with the equipment? I am looking to expand. Wondering if i may buy some equipment at a good price
I've been running my system 99% off grid. Only the chiller has required mains and not for long. I have more batteries, larger charge controller, and inverter all waiting for setup. Test positive for covid tonight though. Sidelines work in the greenhouse.
Prayers for your speedy and full recovery! 🙏❤
Seems like the bottom line is, this wasn't a well planned system.
"Why we ditched the aquaponics system?"
...
"We are not smart."
Our off grid isn't true aquaponics, but uses a 250 gallon ibc tote to hold shinner minnows which are VERY cold tolerant and do well in hot climates also. We simply use the water for irrigation of our beds, and have a solar air pump for the minnows. We have to water the garden beds anyway, so we simply use the well once a week to top off the minnows water and use the excess water for the garden. We use NO fertilizer this way and its super simple
$5 and my opinion will get you a cup of coffee, but...1. Don't raise fish for food, raise them for sale (Koi, etc....) better returns on a fish that sells for top dollar, then buy your Tilapia fillets 2. you had alot of open water which allows for evap; reduce open lines, aerate centrally (waterfall) to improve oxygen content while minimizing evaporation, and three. If you plants are in a greenhouse when it's hot outside (unless you're keeping the inside temp regulated, you'll lose more water than its worth...food for thought. Hope it helps!
Thank you for posting this, how much experience did you have in aquaponics before this?
You Deff made it to Big. We use a 55 gallon Rain barrel. With 10 fish that The water comes off my roof shed roof n Fills the barrel. We drain the barrel Once a week. We also Live in Altantic Canada. So high rain. We use Yellow Perch. In the fall they go in the garden Dead. We don't have evap problems or temperature problems or rain problem.
I appreciate your honesty. I have been thinking of having a small aquaponics system constructed in my greenhouse. I live in a very dry area, so I am concerned about the amount of water used in any part of my garden.
I’d recommend you do build your own Aquaponics System. It’s the best thing I ever did.
A decent pond with a good bubbler does the job and you can use it when it's not stocked for fish you can use it for cattle and veggies.
Also a sub-terrain would help temperature control.
We ran a fairly large system for 5 years and never once considered water consumption as an issue
I agree with you that the fish production is pretty much irrelevant to the financial equation
We don't run it constantly. Yeah, that's too much man. Sorry you had bad luck and lots of maintenance. I built mine 10 years ago and all I do is pull the fish crap out to feed the grapes, fruit trees and some of the in ground veggies we grow. Other than that, I had it automated. :) Hope you get another great option.
Hi I just found this channel.. would you not use more water doing traditional in ground growing? I was under the impression that despite the evap.. it used less water overall? Thanks
Hi, I live in N Florida (country)and recently aquired 4 ducks... that said I was thinking of using aquaponics(duck water) to grow fresh food for my ducks and chickens. Would you recommend this? Thanks so much for you advice.
I'm very interested in space habitat design and life support systems.
I thought it would be a very cool project to start.
Go through and optimize a system that can support a family of 4. Leafy Greens, Vegetables, Fruits, try just about anything.
Minimizing maintenance would definitely be core to the design.
Could be used for writing a bunch of design optimization papers.
Do a complete energy and material balance. Develop my own hardware and software systems for monitoring.
I was thinking of putting everything inside an outbuilding and collecting all the water from the roof into a series of tanks.
A 1inch rain = 2250 gallons water.
Avg 2.5 inches rain a month.
Line the south facing wall with solar collectors to collect heat for closed loop hydronic heating the building during cold months.
We'll see.
Hey, I''m looking to start a program/research for that very thing. Actually, I just started a channel for a crowdfunding campaign. It's this channel. I made a couple animeations , one of them is a rocket taking the lab to Mars. So, if you have a need to expand your network, give me a shout. Peace
Thanks for the video. I was curious if you were still do this.
Good thing i have access to a Lake for my hydroponic system
Thank you! I have been going back in forth with thinking of building a Aqua system using IBC's. I watched several CZcams videos and could not get the answers I was looking for. I always imagined a lot of maintenance and time, and resources to keep the fish alive. It seemed like a lot of work and if 1 thing goes wrong the fish can all die.
You might want to consider hydroponics instead. I thought about the fish to and what if the power goes out? You can still use organic fertilizers to in hydroponic
Good on you for all the efforts and testing. Maybe try fresh water shrimp?
Good show
I'm just learning about this and do have the nutrients needed.
20 yrs using this method to grow Mary-Jane, works wonderful.
And I'm sure that you're on grid too.
Thank you for the info. Perhaps you could scale down your system. Have you consider using solar to heat water, via the heat exchange to keep your water temperrture at higher 70F+ in the winter months? Secondly, if you enclosed all or most open water flow. That will reduce water loss. Also covered your fish tanks to minize water evaporation as well as reducing the algae growth?
I'd like to run a system about the size of what you had set up... we have a 5 acre lot that we are setting up for natural soil garden.... but there are great reasons for aquaponics.
I wonder if there's any simple fix to ameliorate evaporation in warm environments.
At the end of the day it's all about efficiency and in your case water is one of the most taxing resources, labour being the only thing more valuable than that. It's easy to make aquaponics make sense when space is extremely expensive, suddenly things like energy costs and water are not as big a priority. For off-grid homesteads I can see why most people don't do aquaponics, at least not the typical set-ups.
I wasn't about to try aquaponics but i really need to get rain catchment going, though.
I totally understand.
Maybe you could sell your system to someone else, that way you could re-coop some of your expense! I remember when you made that system years ago, and you did a fantastic job of designing it!
how many gallons was the system?
Do you still have the equipment?
Agreed Sir 👍
I live in New Jersey and have been growing Tilapia for 15 years in Aquaponic systems
Do you recommend an aquaponics for an apt?
Would aquaponics make sense if you live on a large, flooded timber lake?
sounds like if you are going to do it go managable size. Why did you make it so big?
Thanks for the video. Yup as they say looks good on paper. No system works without issues or tweaking, it really depends on conditions. Totally agree trying to be self-sufficient is a lot about looking for high productivity with least amount of maintenance-labor. It's very challenging to say the least.
Stay Safe & Good Luck
This is the 1st video I've found with this information. Yeah, water is priority here.
except it's not :/ most of his issues are from poor design of HIS built not basic aquaponics.. Rob Bob has a bunch of good designs he walks you through, as does Hoochos (he's 100% of rain catchment) ..
Many sources state that it requires like 15mins of maintenance a day for a small family so I'm confused
sounds to me like you weren't doing it well, Aquaponics doesn't take a lot of time and is way more water efficient than a dirt garden, You gave up rather than learn from it, as you said it works!
please update your zeal link
If your not concerned with eating the fish and only need them for fertilization the Koi and Goldfish work great and can take very cold water.
I worked in aquaponics research for 3 years to make it work at a commercial scale.
The evaporation issue can be adressed, but beyond that, I would not recommend aquaponics to anyone if they don't have to. The maintenance really is a problem
Every try the green house effect over the plants growing to collect the rising moisture? and as others put out closed water system.
Quick question for you
What zone do you live in???
In my environment you can pump water from the ground 24/7 in middle of the summer without problems. Peoples here irigate crops on many hectares of land in greenhouses
after a few months that zeal started affecting me badly... i had a problem with staying awake, come to find out i had to much of a few b vitamins in my system from it... other than that is a decent product.
Great system, enclosed drainage/ less splash on bed inlets would have helped alot with evap
So what system are you running now
I wonder if it would be possible to incorporate composting in/under/around the fish tanks and let that natural heat keep them warm (if it worked how warm would it keep them) just a thought...
Chickens are a good way to create heat
That is an excellent idea! Thanks for sharing.
So I'm thinking about getting into homesteading when I retire from the military. I was debating about trying Aquaponics so thank you for this video. One question I can't seem to find a good answer to is that if I wanted to stock a pond with fish for consumption what type of fish would be a good option (in South Carolina) I've heard catfish or tilapia may be a good option. My dad's pond seems to be overstocked with bass as so that would be an easy source to get as well.
I would be looking for something that would be easy to maintain, easy to feed if I don't have access to fish feed, good nutrient value, and something that can grow relatively large so I don't have to harvest a bunch for a meal. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
You can purchase tilapia over at the hatchery in Hopkins but they won’t last past October once the water temp drops below 60. I’m overwintering some breeder stock in an IBC. Channel cats would be your best low management option.
@Claudia Thomas thanks for the info!
I tried to do aquaponics as well, here in southern Arkansas. My dad and I built a five thousand sq.' greenhouse and were trying to grow commercially. I worked at it 10-12 hours a day, 7 days a week for 7 years... It can produce, like you said, however, it is completely unsustainable. We were using the DWT method and I'm telling y'all, it is labor, money and heartache intensive! It's such an inexact science. Don't get me wrong it's really cool! But we had moments where I contacted "experts" many states over and nobody had any answers. Greenhouse management itself is complicated, not even considering the system. Anyway, message me if you're curious about more, but suffice it to say that I would counsel anyone to think long and hard to invest any blood, sweat or tears into it as I've done a lot of all three. ( Please discount my picture with the AP system, that happiness was at the beginning)
uhhh you mean dwc? lol
@@Underground-Electronic-Music yes, very much so. My financial life literally depended upon the research of other people. I'm telling you, it didn't work. I'm not saying it can't work, necessarily, but in Arkansas it cannot work with the input of electricity needed to overcome the extremes in this environment. It is an inexact science to begin with and building a system that makes financial sense does not work as far as a commercial system goes.
@@ezekielswiss4347 lol, yes, typo. Thanks for clarifying
Omfg why the hell run an open water system allowing evaporation everywhere when water is an issue, this is just stupidity!
What are your thoughts on Hydroponics? We don't eat fish so we have never considered aquaponics. But I've always wanted to know others point of views on hydroponics?
I’ve done a lot of hydroponics… for some crops it is fairly lucrative and beneficial, but takes a fair amount of tweaking ph levels, monitoring nutrients… I think for the average gardener or homestead that isn’t going into a high value demanding cash crop it isn’t really worth it
But does it require lots of maintenance?
This is just what I needed to hear I was on the fence thanks man.
Maybe it's just me, but I could see the sadness in your eyes as you made this video. Jaimie was likely there to let you know she approves Zach.
1 minute in.
Main reason I don’t do aquaponics is it is dependent on things out side my control and a lot can mess it up. Power pumps equipment etc etc
I garden for my family to be able to eat
Dirt water sun, main thing is water. If I have that my garden won’t fail as easily as a aquaponic/hydroponic system in a grid down situation, curious if you have the same reasoning
several types of aquaponics work even with grid down as you just water from the top like you would in ground - but have minimal losses as it's caught below ... if you don't have water access then grid down you are already up a creek.
It's so much more work than traditional ground planting.
You might have a quite interesting neighbor in there is Missouri. He is Dr. Leo Sharashkin. If you are even slightly interested in beekeeping that's the man you should look for.
We would loose an extreme amount of water our temps are excess of 107 a few days ago ot may have been 110. We have no water on the property so we have to haul it from about 6 miles away 3 days a week so far.
One of the best pieces of wisdom I’ve discovered is to work with your own land. There are always things that thrive in every situation. The key is to find and adapt to those things. I struggled for years to grow things that just didn’t like my situation and everything is so much better now that I’ve started being pragmatic about what thrives in our soil and weather and situation and what ends up being what Zac calls “maintenance heavy”. We always need the things that thrive easiest.
@@Underground-Electronic-Music I have thought about aquaponics, we have no way to do that with having to haul water in 250 gal IBC totes 3x's a week from about 8 or so miles away. We pay a mechanic shop $125 a month. Would like a well however not wanting to pay to place one on rented property.
a better set up and you wouldn't need to add much water.. aquaponics is proven less water heavy than in ground.. but a 1/2 open system like he used isn't a good setup.
I can't even imagine 3 months without rain 😅I guess livin in the south has its perks after all
Aquaponics absolutely uses less water than soil. Evaporation should not be a problem even with high heat. What do you think happens in soil under high heat? Plants transpire more and need more water. There was some design failures here for sure but to each his own. AP is definitely not for everyone and off grid is far more challenging than on grid for sure.
How would a smaller system be off grid just enough for a couple people.
If You had it set up correctly You wouldn’t have the problems You had and You could have maintained the plants with less work than a regular garden.
No need to have an open system aquaponics for hot climate
I agree with the "you're doing it wrong" statements, and for many of the reasons stated. I hate to see the "well I was going to try it, but now I"m not thanks to your video" posts. Such is the danger of the internet. On the coast of Peru they utilize aquaponics specifically because is SAVES water. lol.